This sequence from Catullus 101 is giving me trouble <br />I think I have the gist of it, but the intertwining structures are rather confusing.<br /><br />Nunc tamen interea haec, prisco quae more parentum<br /> tradita sunt tristi munere ad inferias,<br />accipe fraterno multum manantia fletu,<br /> atque in perpetuum, frater, ave atque vale.<br /><br />I have no trouble with the last line, but even heavily annotated, the rest is proving to be a real challenge to me. If you need me to include macrons or the notes I have I can do that as well...

You'll find here the method suggested by Prof. Hale :<br />http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0066<br /><br /><br />But, as he wrote his article in 1886, you must remember that it was (as Paul Simon said) "a time of innocence, a time of confidence". The views on "how the mind works" have changed a bit.<br /><br />Hale suggests that in reading each word of a sentence you recall all possible meanings (lexical and grammatical) of each word and then cut down the number of possibilities according to the meanings of the preceding words. It sounds a bit superhuman, because you must be very familiar with all kinds of inflections, but, if you begin with simple sentences, it can help and give you good habits.<br /><br />Regards,<br />Fernand

Nevertheless now, meanwhile, accept these, which by the ancient custom of our parents
have been handed down with a sad gift to the "funeral rites",
much flowings of a brother's tears,
and into eternity, brother, farewell and good-bye.